Gang Member Sentenced To 50 Years To Life For Halloween Slaying Of College Student

SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — A gang member was sentenced Friday to 50 years to life in prison for gunning down an unarmed college student outside a Halloween party in La Habra eight years ago.

David Anthony Parga, 28, was given the maximum punishment after being convicted of second-degree murder in the Oct. 29, 2006 death of Leland Washington.

Washington, a 27-year-old Cal State Fullerton student who was double majoring in business administration and accounting, was a semester away from graduation, his brother said.

"Leland was my older brother and my best friend," Willie Washington III told the judge. "He's somebody I still try to emulate today."

Washington described his brother as a talented, but humble, athlete and soft-spoken man whose "demeanor earned him the nickname Cruise Control on the football field."

Both of the victim's parents and his sister Denise also addressed the court.

"My son, I miss him very much," Willie Washington Jr. said, then turning toward the defendant and said, "My mother always said never say never, but I will never forgive you for what you did to my family. I will never forgive you for taking my son away from my family."

The judge called the defendant a "coward" for walking up to the victim and shooting him four times for no apparent reason.

"This was a senseless and a very, very stupid killing of a young man about to graduate college," Bromberg said. "The defendant's conduct was about as cold-blooded as cold-blooded can be, and that's what makes you a coward."

Parga killed Washington because he was part of a group that had returned to a party after they were kicked out, which was considered "disrespectful" to the defendant's gang, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jim Mendelson said.

Washington, who had no gang ties, was invited by friends, Mendelson said. He was standing outside with his friends when the party host told them to leave.

A short time later, Parga left the party, walked up to Washington and shot him with a .22-caliber pistol, Mendelson said, and the bullets ripped through Washington's aorta, liver and small intestine, causing him to bleed to death internally.

Washington's friends were told to get him out of there and they could not wait around and all 911, Mendelson said.

The victim's friends took Washington to the La Habra police station about two blocks away. He was then taken to UCI Medical Center, where he died minutes after arrival, the prosecutor said.

A shell casing at the shooting scene had Parga's DNA on it, Mendelson said, adding that a female witness told investigators that the defendant admitted to the shooting and that she was instructed to get rid of his bloody clothing.

Parga said he felt the victim's father, brother and sister bore "animosity" toward him, so he directed his comments to the family matriarch.

"I know there's nothing I can do to bring (the victim) back and I'm deeply sorry about what happened to him. To you, specifically, I want to say I'm sorry about what happened to your son," he told Bessie Washington.

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